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Need help setting up SSD RAID 0 boot drive on Extreme6/GB board

Hi all

First post on this forum so please bear with me if this is a stupid question. I'm thinking about setting up a 2x256GB raid 0 drive with 2 Crucial M4 SSDs. I understand the process of setting up the raid drive and configuring BIOS, etc, but I'm a little confused as to which raid driver to use during the Windows 7 installation process. The documentation on Asrock's site keeps referring to the support files on the original motherboard disk but unfortunately my disk has somehow become corrupted. The website doesn't seem to have an obvious raid driver listed for extreme6 in Windows 7 (although their is a Vista version). Can anyone point me to a place where I can download the correct driver or point it out on the site if I'm missing it? Even better, if someone has done this on an Extreme6 already, any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Re: Need help setting up SSD RAID 0 boot drive on Extreme6/GB board

I'm suggesting the RST version instead of the RSTe(e=Enterprise) version as I was told/instructed on my recent Z77 build there are unresolved issues with the RSTe version.

And from just now looking at the Intel Download Center, the version ASRock has on their site, 11.7.0.1013, is also the latest offered at/by Intel.

#1 - Please, when seeking help, enter the make and model of ALL parts that your system is comprised of in your Signature, or at least the model #'s in your System Specs, then "Save' it.
____If you are overclocking, underclocking, or undervolting any parts, informing us of this and their values would prove beneficial in helping you.

#3 - Please use the eXtreme Outer Vision Power Supply Calculator found HERE to determine if it might be your PSU at issue.
____Consider your PSU to be the foundation from which all else is built upon. Anything built upon a weak foundation is poorly built.

Re: Need help setting up SSD RAID 0 boot drive on Extreme6/GB board

#1 - Please, when seeking help, enter the make and model of ALL parts that your system is comprised of in your Signature, or at least the model #'s in your System Specs, then "Save' it.
____If you are overclocking, underclocking, or undervolting any parts, informing us of this and their values would prove beneficial in helping you.

#3 - Please use the eXtreme Outer Vision Power Supply Calculator found HERE to determine if it might be your PSU at issue.
____Consider your PSU to be the foundation from which all else is built upon. Anything built upon a weak foundation is poorly built.

Re: Need help setting up SSD RAID 0 boot drive on Extreme6/GB board

Thanks for the info, Wardog. Got this up and running on my system and all I can say is "wow". Getting read speeds over 1000MB/s. Write speeds are between 500-600 but I figure that doesn't make much difference since this will be a system drive and won't have a lot of data being written to it.

One (hopefully minor) issue that comes up in a clean install of Windows is that the Intel Rapid Storage Management service won't run. It launches but shuts down almost instantly. From what I've read online, this seems to be related to recent drivers from Intel. I guess my question is whether or not this service is important. I set the raid up in bios and it seems to be running fine. I have no intention of setting up any other raids on the system. Do I need the Intel Management service running or can I safely disable it and go on about my business?

Re: Need help setting up SSD RAID 0 boot drive on Extreme6/GB board

The IRST management service, or the IRST GUI that runs in Windows is what you're having problems with. That is caused by a strange bug in IRST since version 11.5.

As odd as this may sound, when you have the ASMedia SATA controller enabled in the BIOS/UEFI, the IRST GUI won't run, as you've seen. It's a simple thing to try, so test it out by disabling it and see if it runs, which it should. If you're not using the ASMedia SATA ports at all, then just disable it and you'll have the IRST GUI back.

The IRST GUI lets you see the status of your RAID volume, and tweak a couple things like the write back cache, or expand the volume if you haven't used all of the space on your RAID volume disks. It's nice to have to check out occasionally, but not essential for your RAID volume to function correctly. You can also see some of the basic information about your RAID volume when the PC boots and the RAID Option ROM is displayed for a few seconds, or entering Ctrl I to keep it displayed.

You can disable it but just be sure you're not disabling the IAStorDataSvc, which is not the GUI/management service.

Re: Need help setting up SSD RAID 0 boot drive on Extreme6/GB board

An alternative for you would be to use RSTe instead of IRST, since your board can use both. I have not heard of this problem happening with the RSTe driver.

RSTe is the enterprise version of Intel Rapid Storage (RAID), and only useable on X79 boards. I'm not certain what issues with RSTe there are, that was mentioned earlier, but I believe I know what that is. The performance in benchmarking software with RSTe is usually not as good as IRST, so users complain about it. It also does not have TRIM in RAID 0, but X79 platforms don't support that anyway. Real world performance will be no different IMO, and frankly RSTe should be more solid since it is supplied to enterprise/corporate customers.